Today’s vehicle is one I spotted in the fresh trade row of a car dealership the other day. The thing about the fresh trade row is that it’s kind of like automotive purgatory. The sad little cars and trucks that have been left behind in favor of newer, shinier models are all lined up, waiting to learn their fate. If they’re new enough themselves, and in decent shape with low mileage, they’ll be plucked from the trade in row and sent to the in-house detailing shop for a thorough cleaning followed by a mechanical inspection before being placed in the used section of the car lot. There they’ll sit, resentfully regarding the brand new vehicles on the other side of the lot that lost them their place in the driveway to begin with, but also hoping for a new driver to come along and take an interest in them… or they would feel that way if they could, anyway.
But what of the other trades: the beaters, the worn and torn, and the just plain not new enough anymore cars? They stay in the limbo of the fresh trade row. On occasion, somebody might spot one of them sitting in the back of the lot behind the dealership and inquire about it inside. Car dealerships are interested in making money, so if the offer made is enough to cover what they gave in trade allowance plus some extra for all their trouble, then they’ll send the car off with a warning to its new owner that “if it breaks in half tomorrow, you own both pieces”. In other words, don’t bring it back.
As for the rest of the cars, they’re left sitting there like a confab of awkward kids who always get picked last to be on the gym class dodge ball team. Then one day, the dealership gets their team of drivers -often times retirees (cheap to insure) who work part time to drive vehicles from one dealership to another for dealer trades and what not- and they each get behind the wheel of these vehicular misfits and caravan to a huge expanse of concrete and cars known as the auto auction. The cars will be cataloged and parked for eyeball inspection before being driven (or some times pushed) through the bidding line, where used car dealers will compete for them. Some will be bought for sale on bargain lots, some for parts, some for scrap, and some, not at all.
This brings us back to the little yellow Suzuki Aerio SX wagon. This is probably a 2003 model or some year close to it, which means it’s far too old to make it into the used section of the new car dealership where it sits. As if its impending and uncertain fate wasn’t bad enough already, it comes from a sad background. You see, just a few months ago, Suzuki announced that it was ceasing its passenger car sales in the US market, making this car a kind of orphan now, which is like rubbing salt in the wound that was already created when the Aerio was replaced by its newer sibling, the Suzuki SX4.
Mind you, Suzuki is still doing well elsewhere in the world, and they still sell a variety of other things like marine vehicles and motorcycles in the US, but no more cars. In fact, if anyone reading this watches the BBC’s Top Gear, you may recall that a Suzuki Aerio sedan is the car that show used during its first few seasons to send its celebrity guests racing around their course. -Well, not an Aerio, per se. In Europe, the Aerio was called the LIANA, which is an acronym meaning “Life In A New Age”. Hmmm…. I think perhaps it’s for the best that Suzuki has left the US market before they could try to come out with a model called the YOLO or something equally irritating.
I don’t know what it was that caught my eye about this little Aerio. Maybe that it still looked so perky even though it was parked in the fresh trade row, or perhaps that it kind of looks like an itty bitty yellow school bus? At any rate, it just had this sweet look about it, and I decided to pay it some attention. This particular one probably cost between $15,000-$18,000 brand new back in 2003. These Aerios could be had with an AWD option, which in fact, this very Aerio is equipped with. In the early 2000’s, these were the least expensive AWD vehicles on the new market. They featured a 2.0L 4 cylinder with either a 4 speed automatic or a 5 speed manual for 141HP and 135 lb ft of torque. The SX even came with an upgrade from the base 14” steel wheels, offering 15” alloy wheels instead. Big deal, you say? 15” is nothing compared to the factory 20” rims some cars come with today. Maybe so, but have you ever bought a set of tires for those 20” rims? Crazy expensive. 15” rims though? Cheap! -which was the word of the day for people who were looking to buy the cheapest AWD car on the market, after all.
Sure, this little Aerio probably has some life left in it as a commuter car, but I keep thinking that it might make a nice little hot hatch project for somebody… on the cheap, of course. So, lets suppose that the Aerio piled on a conservative 12,000 miles a year from the time it was new in ’03, for a total of 120,000 miles (I think this one probably has more than that, but we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt here). The dealership probably owns it for around $2,000 (maybe less if they really low-balled the car’s owner while negotiating). One could probably buy it for around $3,000 -maybe more, maybe less depending on how much trade allowance was piled on it when putting together the deal for the new vehicle.
So, for around $3,000, you’ve now got a car that you should be able to get another 50,000-80,000 miles out of with relatively few, if any breakdowns. But let’s say you’re not satisfied with that. Lets say you figure you want to make it something special. You could buy a body kit, have it painted and installed, though really, this one’s already got ground effects and a rear wing, and it‘s kinda cute, in a stodgy lil’ wagon way. Maybe instead, let’s err on the side of being cheap and spend $20 on a headlight restoration kit to polish those road-blasted lenses up to crystal clear again. Or maybe shop around on Ebay and spend $80-100 on some aftermarket headlight arrays. Spend another $10 on a decent car wax or rubbing compound and buff the dull right off that paint.
Now it’s looking a bit more like new, but it’s still pretty stock at this point. Let’s spring for a new air intake and exhaust that will let the car breathe easier and probably give you 5 more horsepower to zip around with -it‘ll cost you a few hundred bucks to do them both, but it will also sound better once it‘s done. Not satisfied with that? Well, there’s a bolt-on electric supercharger kit that can be had online for $180 and supposedly can make the engine crank out up to 80 more HP. Who knows how well it works, how many HP you’ll really get, or whether or not it will blow your engine to smithereens, but for $180, you almost have to try it. You’ll still have a couple hundred bucks left over to hit the junkyard or Craigslist to buy some new used rims if you want to flash things up a bit before you hit the $1,000 mark in add-ons and upgrades.
Seems like it might be a fun car to tweak around, doesn’t it? The best part is that Suzukis never did sell that well here in the US, which is why they’re not for sale here anymore, but it’s also why having this Aerio would mean you’ve got a car that’s uncommon to start with. Add on some customization and upgrades, and it will be one of a kind in no time. …And to think that all that fun and potential is just sitting there in automobile purgatory known as the fresh trade row.
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